by B. B. Palomo
“All right, hand it over,” I said before Noah could find something to throw at her.
“Fine.” She sulked and obliged, eyes still sparkling with humor.
“Can you light the candles?” I asked Noah as I centered the board and its cursor. He didn’t agree but still got up to grab the lighter sitting on a distressed dresser in the corner. I kept my hands folded in my lap until he was done, silently trying to give myself a pep talk.
“All right, place both your middle and index fingers from both hands lightly on the cursor.” They both did. I took a deep, comforting breath before joining them.
Open yourself up.
I added my fingers and guided the planchette to all four corners of the board, doing exactly that. Closing my eyes, I cleared my mind and opened myself to the possibility of another place where the spirits gone from this world would reside.
A sharp stabbing zipped through my skull, stealing my breath.
It startled me. I almost pulled my fingers from the board, but it was like they were glued to the metal. Something urged me on, pushing me through the pain like an unspoken promise of glory that would far outweigh anything I would experience in this moment.
“Is there anyone there?” I spoke, my voice coming out unsure. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Are there any spirits who wish to speak with us?” I was vague, but I pictured my dad’s face clearly, selfishly wanting him to come through instead of Adira’s aunt.
The vigor sent goosebumps down my arm while a cool breeze tickled my face, blowing stray hairs fallen from my ponytail against my cheeks. I opened my eyes to see if the window was cracked, but it was sealed shut.
If my friends sensed a change, it was impossible to tell.
Adira smiled wildly, the excitement making her tap her foot uncontrollably. At the same time, Noah was busy examining a room I’d never let him go into, possibly rethinking if he was willing for my mom to ever become his mother-in-law with her wacky trinkets and voodoo doll decorations. I waited patiently for any other sign, not really knowing what to expect.
Abruptly the planchette shot forward to yes.
We ripped our hands back, surprised by the motion.
“Who moved that?” Noah asked, not totally convinced.
Adira and I shook our heads, insisting we hadn’t.
I was the first to place my fingers back onto the cool metal, eager to talk to who had come to visit us. Adira followed suit quickly, whereas Noah was slower to get on board. He eyed the planchette nervously like it would bite him if he were to touch it again.
“Are you Adira’s aunt?” I asked as soon as he placed his fingers next to ours.
No. The planchette moved slowly but steadily.
“Are you someone we know?” I asked.
Yes. I had to bite my lip to hold in the happy tears that were climbing up my throat.
“Are we speaking to my dad?” I held my breath as the cursor started to move slowly, painfully.
Yes.
The air rushed from me in a nervous choke. I worried Adira would be disappointed, but the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes were happy as she grinned back at me. Noah kept his hands still and focused on the board to figure out what was going on. It was okay. I didn’t need him to believe because I knew this was real. I knew this was my dad.
“I’m so happy to talk to you!” Tears streamed from my lids. “Are you at peace?”
The cursor jerked, and my heart stopped in my chest.
No.
“Willow,” Noah called to me, removing his fingers quickly, but it was too late. The words were already leaving my lips.
“Is it because of me?” I continued without him.
Yes.
I knew their eyes were on me, and the answer registered in my brain. Warning bells went off in my gut, screaming not to continue, not to ask the next question already hanging from my lips.
“What can I do?” I said quietly, holding back tears.
The planchette moved down to the letters as the air in the room stilled and dropped below subzero. The flames from the candles jerked wildly with a furious, nonexistent wind defying the laws of nature. I held my breath, and the planchette settled over the D.
My heart beat erratically in my chest as it slowly moved across the board and reached the I.
“Who’s doing that?” Noah demanded.
I jerked my hands away, not realizing Noah had already removed his and pulled them in close. Adira was the last to leave the cursor, earning her a sharp look from Noah, but it didn’t change the word. I didn’t know if the gasp came from one of us or all three of us as the planchette moved freely. Even as the last letter sliced through my chest, I couldn’t bear to look away when it settled on the E.
“This isn’t funny,” Noah raged at Adira.
Adira shot up from the table, ignoring him. “That’s not your dad, Willow.”
I looked toward her, confused. Of course, it was. Clearly, he blamed me for his death. It was my fault, after all.
The yelling alerted Cora, who appeared at the doorframe.
“What are you doing?” she called from her safe place as I replaced my fingers on the metal. Hot blood rushed through my veins as I tried to focus through a new level of pounding in my brain. Warmth dripped from my nostril, slithering down my lip.
“Willow?” Noah reached for me, but I pulled my hand back, quickly wiping the warm blood from under my nose and replacing my fingers against the cursor.
“Who are you?” The planchette grew hot under my skin, uncomfortable at first but quickly coming to a smolder. “Ow!” I hissed and pulled my hands back, the smell of burnt flesh unforgettable as I tried not to gag.
“We need to stop this, now!” Noah’s voice broke me from whatever plans I was coming up with next. He lurched forward and grabbed the board, intent on putting it back into the box, but it was ripped from his hands, flying over my head and only missing me by mere centimeters as I leaped from my chair. Sharp stinging ripped through my hand as I landed on my cut, red soaking through the bandage instantly.
“Aaaah!” Adira screamed as a chair blocked her path to the door.
A tornado-like growl erupted from around us, growing to a volume where I had to slam my hands over my ears. A gust of monstrous wind picked up and blew around the room, blowing out the candles in one quick whoosh, and rattled the house. The shaking grew more vigorous, sending my mom’s knickknacks flying at us like human targets. Noah fell over himself, trying his best to crawl to me, but I was frozen in fear. Hot tears burned my eyes as the world seemed to crash down around me.
Strong arms pulled me in close, the sound of Noah’s racing heart almost as loud as the growling surrounding us. The window suddenly burst open, slamming against the drywall, and sent sheetrock scattering across the floor in small chunks. Cora screamed out, and I tried to turn to see if she was okay, but Noah’s stone grip wouldn’t let me budge.
With one last howl, whatever was in the room with us escaped out into the night sky, taking both the stagnant, negative energy in the room and our ignorance of pure evil with it.
Chapter Nine
No one moved a muscle.
Frozen in time, we stood as statues erected in a fear that even the slight rise and fall of our chests would bring back whatever was just in this room. My hands convulsed uncontrollably, opening and closing against Noah’s wrinkled shirt as I shivered in his lap. I slapped them down to still the trembling, ignoring the sharp sting that still pulsated in my palm from the lack of care to the wound. The simple sound, a fleshy clap, in the dead silent room broke everyone’s trance. I let go of a painful breath as Noah moved under me, his legs shaking as he tried to get himself and me to our feet.
“What the hell was that?” he asked, the alarm changing his voice in a way I didn’t recognize.
“I-I didn’t see anyone—” I stuttered, the shock of it all numbing my mouth.
“Didn’t see anyone?” Adira looked at me incredulously.
; “No.” I shook my head. “I don’t know. I just—”
“That wasn’t a person.” Noah’s voice was far away as he gathered his thoughts.
“Then what the hell was it?” Adira picked herself up off the floor. Some of the hair had come undone from her elastic and now fell in straight lines, easily brushing the front of her shirt. “Because something was just here.”
“Did you feel it?” I looked back toward the window, shivering in the wind.
“Feel what?” Adira looked confused.
“The hate,” Cora whispered, and I snapped my head in her direction.
“Yeah.” I turned back excitedly. That’s exactly what it was. “It was pure hate.”
“I don’t understand,” she said, and when I moved my gaze back, she was shaking her head slightly. “I guess I felt something—”
“Stop, just stop!”
Adira and I looked at Noah with wide eyes. He was staring in the direction of the window, sweat beading on his nose. His grip on me had loosened, and he now sat back on his butt, disbelief playing wildly across his face.
“Noah?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“It could have been a tornado,” he finally met my gaze. “It was storming pretty bad when I got here.”
“Really?” Adira scoffed. “You think the twister was just in this room?”
“Well, how else do you explain what just happened?” he yelled back with empty anger.
“Well, maybe there could be an explanation,” I tried to reason, sensing Noah wanted this to be anything other than some evil spirit toying with us for using the Ouija board.
Adira gave in, nodding in agreement even though neither of us believed that for one second.
I shifted in Noah’s lap to ask Cora if she was okay, but her eyes had locked onto the board now lying behind me on the ground. Curious, I followed her trail of vision, noting the way her jaw ticked in nervousness as she observed it like it would disappear.
It was flipped right side up, and somehow the planchette had found its way back to the slab of terrifying wood. The center of the cursor rested solidly over the goodbye at the bottom of the board, the ominous message a clear threat rather than dismissal. Heat tinged my skin as terror clawed up my throat and latched into me, promising never to let me escape its clutches.
“I don’t think any of us should mess with one of these—ever again,” Noah said, now seeing the same message I was.
“Ever,” Cora practically shouted from the door as if that was the first smart thing someone had said all night.
Adira and I nodded vigorously in agreement, not needing any convincing.
The room was lighter as my friends each blew out a sigh of relief, but I couldn’t steal the same comfort. My body was heavy, weighed down like I’d been buried under bricks. The once simple task of moving my arms now was imperceptible as they lay at my sides. My mind in a dizzying fog as tiny pinpricks jutted into my nerves. Short, painful breaths slipped through my lips as I did my best not to alert anyone that I was sinking into quicksand.
With our unity, Noah moved away from me and scooped the game up before hastily returning it to the box. He placed it back on the shelf, gently, as if not to disturb it more than we already had, fearful that thing would come back. Adira shut the window and checked the lock was latched three times before moving back from it. Cora stayed close to her as she moved through the house, flipping on every light switch in her path.
Any motivation past standing was lost for me. My feet were superglued to the floor. Those short breaths turned frantic, outpacing my heart, which already thudded at double the rate it should. I clutched my chest, willing the sludge in my veins to unclog and grant me some relief from the darkness clouding my vision until the only thing I could see was pinpricks of light. My world was spinning, and there was nothing around to hold on to.
What did I do?
Why did I just put my friends at risk?
My brain picked up volume, internally screaming until I closed my eyes to try and drown out the voice.
You let me in.
“Willow,” I gasped as Noah’s voice grounded me. “What’s wrong?”
Silent terror fell from my eyes, dripping under my chin and running down my neck. I barely registered the tender brush of his thumb as it trailed my tears to wipe them from my face. My hand shook as I reached to stop him with a flattened palm, turning into his calloused skin to steal comfort I didn’t deserve.
“I think I’ve made a huge mistake,” I whispered, refusing to meet his eyes.
“It’s gonna be okay,” he said, pulling me in close. “It’s over now.”
I let the sincerity of his words calm the increasingly unstable feeling buzzing under my skin. His warmth almost disguised the event of the night, and for a second, I could pretend it was all a bad dream, but once that second was up, so was my solace. My gut wouldn’t let me off that easy. The same screaming inner dialogue telling me I shouldn’t have attempted to use the board was now promising that it, whatever it was, was far from done with me.
“Okay.” I feigned contentment instead of sharing those fears with him. “You’re right.”
I didn’t regret lying. How could I when it brought him so much peace?
Noah relaxed his shoulders and smiled softly, the light gleaming in his deep blues. He grabbed my hand and led me from the room at a steady but rushed pace. He didn’t want to stay there any longer than we had to, and I couldn’t blame him.
We found ourselves sitting back in the living room with Adira and Cora. They’d lit the space up like Christmas, and I almost needed sunglasses to stop my pupils from straining against the brightness. The overhead lights had been turned on, and a lamp from the hallway had been relocated to the corner where I’d seen the skittish shadow.
As I sat down, the silence from my friends was deafening. I didn’t want to think about how bad that could've gotten or if they got hurt. I could pretend there was no way for me to know the consequence of using it, but I’d been warned against the board, and I went in hoping it would work—just in a different way. The possibility of letting whatever that thing was into my home never crossed my mind, and in turn, my friends almost paid the price.
I believed in good and evil people, but spirits? To me, demons were just a way to keep religious goers in line. They were nothing more than a name to label the sins we did every day, but if that wasn’t a demon, what else could it have been? Even worse, where did it go? I never wanted to encounter something like that again, but I could help the anxiety building in me about whether it was searching for another unsuspecting person to terrorize.
“Well, that was—interesting.” Adira broke the hush between us. I gave her a nervous smile and tried to laugh, but it came strangled.
“I’ll never sleep again.” Cora shuddered, and I understood exactly what she meant.
“Please don’t go,” I begged suddenly.
I was afraid, and I’d understand if they wanted to run from here—from me as quick as they could, but the thought of being left here alone made my stomach roll.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Adira assured, speaking for everyone. “We’re going to stay up to watch stupid rom-coms, no matter how awkward it is that I’m third-wheeling with you guys.”
“Fourth wheeling?” I corrected.
“It’s just like you to not know sayings.” She shook her head and threw a handful of popcorn in my direction, or at least attempted to. Really, the fluffy kernels curved, and Cora had to dive out of their way to avoid the buttery assault.
“And you still have no aim,” I fired back, knowing I’d never hit a moving target either.
Out of nowhere, Noah’s boisterous laugh filled the room. I turned to see him clutching the remote, unblinking eyes staring at the TV. Still, plastered on the screen was the out-of-date makeup used to make a man into a demon. Us girls were clearly uncomfortable with the image now, but Noah’s body still shook with the humor we didn’t expect.
“Wh
at’s so funny?” Adira squealed, looking away from the screen and covering her eyes for good measure
“You mean to tell me”—he tried to rein it in—“you guys watched a movie about using an Ouija board. In that movie, she invites a demon in,” he finished by raising his voice. “And thought it would be a good idea to do that?”
My jaw dropped as Adira blinked big doe eyes like she was just seeing Noah for the first time. He was right. We’d literally followed the same bad decision as the girl from the movie. It started small, with Noah pulling me back in him to pat my head like I was a toddler and didn’t know any better. His body rocked with the big stomach chuckles he was desperately trying to suppress. Unable to resist, we joined in, laughing until my tear ducts shed.
“I am going to get some drinks—with all the lights on and”—she looked past me toward her destination in the kitchen, stifling the last of her laughs—“Noah is gonna escort me, but not because I’m afraid.” She smiled, and we all chuckled, loving how Adira could always ease any situation. “You’re in charge of picking the movie.” She took two fingers to her eyes and forced them in Cora’s and my direction, motioning that she was watching us. “Don’t screw it up.”
We gave her a quick salute and got to work, deciding to stream and only look in the comedy section.
When they returned, we’d decided on some movie that was partly a musical. We all got comfortable, settling in for a sleepless night of trying our best to forget everything that happened in the room just beyond on the wall and praying it would never come back.
I jutted upright, the white flash of the lightning rushing through the window and burning my eyes. I threw my hand in front of my face to shield myself, but by then, it had already gone. Any memory left of my dream were fragments of unimportant thoughts, but the sweat-drenched clothes and racing heart told me it wasn’t one I’d want to remember anyway.
My skin was on fire despite the cooled temperature of the house. I carefully navigated out from under Noah’s heavy arm and the blanket twisted around our bodies. His chest rose and fell softly, assuring me the movements hadn’t disturbed him. I stumbled as my clammy feet hit the floor, having to right myself against the couch until I was sure it wouldn’t happen again.